Colossians 3:6-17

Colossians 3:18-4:18 (Really Colossians 3:6-17)

Introduction: Read. Reread. Observe.

Literary Context:

Let’s review the literary context. 1:1-14. Paul writes to those that he states are living in two locations. What are those two locations? In Colossae and in Christ. Paul puts three big ideas together as he expresses thanks to God for the Colossians. These were faith, ___________, and ___________. Remember, as Paul addresses these it indicates something of the health of the church. Their faith was springing forth from their hope, and their faith was being lived out in love. What do we mean by hope? Looking at verses 9-11 Paul prays that they would be filled with knowledge of God’s will, this would then lead to what? Proper living and being filled with the knowledge of God. Is that a circular argument? How does one live it out? (The empowering of God, v. 11).

1:15-20. What were these verses addressing? The supremacy of Christ. Remember he is the πρωτότοκος of all creation. Does this mean that he was the first created being? What does it mean? (He is preeminent). Remember also we have those three preposition throughout this section that point to how God operated in, by, and for Christ. Looking at verse 18 we talked about how Paul labels Christ as not just the πρωτότοκος of all creation but the πρωτότοκος of what else also? The new creation. What was the means by which God accomplished this through Christ? He made peace “through his blood, shed on the cross.” What did the culture think about the cross?

1:21-23 served as the application portion of vv. 15-20, and we noted that the argument here was from what you were to what you are now by the cross. What did they use to be? Hostile to God. Doing evil deeds. Wright: “Wrong thinking leads to vice, vice to further mental corruption, so that the mind, still not totally ignorant of God’s standards, finds itself applauding evil” (85). What are they now? Reconciled. Remember also the purpose statement that accompanied this reconciliation. They were reconciled so that they could be what? Holy, blameless, and above reproach. There’s also a condition statement placed upon this, do you remember what it is? “If your remain located in the faith.”

1:24-2:5. We, following Wright, labeled this section as Paul’s introducing himself to the Colossians. In the first section (1:24-29) he explained the nature of his own ministry; in the second (2:1-5), he explains how this relates to the church in Colossae. Three things I want us to remember in that first section: 1. Paul viewed his vocation as inherently involving suffering. 2. He views God’s grace as given to him (for what?) for them. 3. His ministry revolved around the mystery. What is always at the focal point of the “mystery” in the NT? Christ.

In the second half I want us to remember two things: 1. Paul stresses the great effort he has exerted in the Gospel for their sake. 2. Paul highlights the supremacy of Christ to emphasize the emptiness of the heresy that they are encountering. Once the Colossians recognize the “full riches of complete understanding of the mystery of God, which is Christ” then, as Ash writes: “the emptiness of the heresy would be evident” (Col 2:2).

2:6-23. In this section Paul lays forth the Philosophy for what it was. How does he describe it? Empty and deceptive. The façade of a grand house. What is it rooted in? Human tradition. God’s word vs. Man’s word.

Then in vv. 9-10 Paul talks about the preeminence of Christ once again: “the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form in him,” and couples that with the results of being located in him “and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.” What was the question that we then asked as a result of this? If you are already full, then why add? In. vv. 11-15 he begins to take up the language of death and burial, linking our being located in Christ with baptism. The argument in verse 13 is a very familiar one to us, it is: “From what you were, to what _______ _____ ____ __ _________” (you are now in Christ). Formerly they were what? Dead in their trespasses and uncircumcision. What are they now? Alive with Christ and forgiven; the IOU has been “blotted out.” Explain to me, please, the “blotted out” metaphor of verse 14?

Turning to chapter 3, Paul commands them to remember all of these truths (that they have been raised with Christ) and so to set their desires and mentality on Christ (vv. 1-2) and reminding them that they have died to the things of this world “with Christ” who is their life.

This lead us to verse 5 in which the command is to “be what you _____” (are), and they are “dead.” They are to “put to death” the members (parts of them) that are of this earth. We summed this up: “You are dead, now live like it.”

Verses 6-7:

This brings us to verses 6-17, and in verse 6 we find that this “putting to death” has to be done when one recognizes that such vices are the very reason why God’s wrath is going to be meted against all the sons of disobedience. Two things we should note here. First, God’s wrath is not primarily an emotional outburst, but rather, as Melick puts it, “the active reaction of his nature against all that is contrary to his nature. It is a recoiling of God’s entire being. It has logical and volitional elements and primarily expresses God’s judgement on people” (292). There is a consequence to living in a manner that is “hostile to God, doing evil deeds” and such a life demonstrates a failure to remain located in the faith and a failure to continue to walk in Christ.

The tail end of verse 6 I have also translated quite literally “sons of disobedience.” To be the “son of” something is a very frequent way of describing one who is characterized by such things. A son of righteousness is characterized by righteousness whereas a son of disobedience is characterized by disobedience.

This lends itself to the imagery in verse 7 where Paul says: “In these also you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.” Again, Paul uses the Gk. term περιπατέω to describe their “walk of life” the term literally meaning “to walk.” This was your former walk of life, as sons of disobedience, when you were alive in them. Notice the back and forth between the language of life and death. Having come to Christ, being baptized into him, you have died. Now the task of the Christian is to recognize that and live like it. You cannot walk as if you are alive in this location (disobedience) any longer.

Verse 8:

Paul adds an additional metaphor here: changing clothes. The imperative in verse 8 is ἀποτίθημι that has the semantic range of “put off, take off, lay down.” Paul’s used it before in Ephesians with the sense of removing vice like an old filthy garment, and this is the same manner in which he uses the term here (in just a few verses he will instruct them concerning what garment they are supposed to put on). So, here’s the command: “Remove the old garment of anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth.”

While we won’t touch on each of these, what is so dangerous about these particular vices? They destroy relationships. Melick notes: “These sins destroy social relationships and are more expressive of attitudes than specific actions…Since the new life is to be lived corporately with all Christians, positive Christian social relationships are mandatory. These five, then, are mentioned not so much because they are more typical of Christians than of non-Christians, but because they are necessary to harmonious relationships in the body of Christ” (293). These things that destroy the social fabric must be removed, recognizing that the Christian life is lived in community.

Verse 9:

Verse 9 makes it very clear that such conduct is in keeping with their former lives (when they were hostile in their minds to God, doing evil deeds, and thus alienated from him). Such a walk of life is completely out of line with the new life that Christ has accomplished in us when we were raised with him.

That old life was characterized by hostility to those things which belong to God, including truth, and thus lying must also be shed like an ugly garment. N.T. Wright, talking about the state of the Colossians (and everyone) prior to conversion, writes: “The behaviour outlined in verses 5 and 3:8 is characteristic of distorted humanity. Being itself out of shape, it tends to twist everything else—people, by manipulation or anger; facts, by lying—to make them fit in with its own distortions. The humanity which has been straightened out according to the perfect model, that of Christ (1:15–20; 2:6), has no excuse for such behaviour. The standard now is the life of heaven (3:1–4). They do not behave like that there” (142).

This new life is lived out with the recognition that “you have already undressed yourselves from the old self with its practices.” Notice that the command continues to be in line with what is their present spiritual condition. Paul says: “Take off the practices of the old self, knowing that you have already undressed yourselves of the old self and its practices.” The Christian must “Be what he/she already is” as a result of the reconciliation work of the cross (being buried with Christ and risen with him to new life).

Verse 10:

There is some word play taking place in vv. 9-10. To describe how the old self has already been “stripped off” Paul uses the term ἀπεκδύομαι that means something like “remove; undress.” In verse 10 to describe how the Colossians have put on the new self he uses the term ἐνδύω that means “put on, clothe; dress oneself.” These two things happened in conjunction with one another. The old self was stripped off and the new self was put on (like a garment).

Now this new self is described with a present passive participle ἀνακαινόω that means “make new; restore, renew” suggesting that it is undergoing a process of renewal (effectuated by another force, here presumably God working on the individual) in knowledge according to the image of its creator. That reference to knowledge ought to remind us (pull us back to) Paul’s prayer in chapter 1:9 where he prayed that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, that this would in turn lead to proper living and the knowledge of God’s will, and this empowered by the hand of God. Thus, the Colossians are to live out the new life recognizing what God has already done, recognizing what he is doing, and with our eyes towards the goal: that the new life would be in accord to the image of its creator.

This is the language of the creation account, and the consequence of that would be the recognition that through Christ we have been reconciled back to God in order to be what we were intended to be when God first breathed life into Adam, reflections of God and representatives of the mighty one to his creation. This idea should probably take us straight back to 1:15-20 in which we discovered Christ’s integral working in creation that all things were made “in him, by him, and for him.” Your life then, has true purpose: to be lived to the glory of God as a reflection of him, and this is only possible through the working of Christ and you remaining in the faith, continuing to walk in Christ, and being what God has made already made you (dead to the things of the earth, alive with Christ in God. Unclothed of vice, garbed in that which is of Christ, which Paul will enumerate in vv. 12-17).

So, two questions: “Since this is what God has accomplished by Christ in us, why are Christians tempted to add to this genuine hope from the things of this world that are hopeless?” “How do we ‘kill’ the parts of us that are earthly and remove the vices that are characteristic of our old life?” Recognize that God already has through Christ. You are not those things. Satan has done an excellent job tricking people into believing that they are their sin. It is simply not true. You have died to sin, you’ve been risen with Christ. This is the reality of the situation.

Verse 11:

And this is true for everyone who is located in Christ, regardless of background. Now, this list of former divisions is probably included because a focus on these things would lead to the kinds of vices exhibited in verse 8. Remind me, from our conversation in Ephesians, what were some of the boundary markers between Jews and Gentiles, and how did these lead to hostility?

The term Barbarian is actually a Gk onomatopoeia (a word that is formed based on a sound associated with the thing it names). It has the basic meaning: “speak with a stammer, make unintelligible sounds.” From this origin it designates finally anyone who speaks a non-Greek language and who is recognized as a foreigner” (EDNT 197). It’s a derogatory designation for such persons (since they are not of the educated Greek variety). N.T. Wright points out that: “the Scythians (from the then little-known northern reaches of Asia) were the extreme examples of barbarians, little better than savages” (144). We could see the dividing walls of ethnicity and culture coming to the fore, but the reminder of this verse is that “these distinctions…have become irrelevant in Christ” (Wright 144).

This is made especially clear as Paul again focuses on the preeminence of Christ: “but Christ is all and is in all.” In regards to the Christian, Melick writes: “Here in Col 3:11 it speaks of Christ being the total concern, preoccupation, and environment of the Christian. Like the other occurrences of the phrase, it speaks to the totality of his presence, in contrast to the other distinctions of purely human designation” (299). The Christians preoccupation is not these human distinctions, but Christ who, as Paul wrote already in 1:15-20 is the sphere in which all things were created, the means by which all things were created, and for whom all things were created (everything has its telos in Christ).

Verse 12:

This leads to a positive command in verse 12. Tell me, how does the sentence begin? What is the question that we ask ourselves? What is the answer to that question?

In view of your being dead, in view of your life being Christ, in view of your being what you are (living out the spiritual reality), in view of your being renewed, and in view of the preeminence of Christ that trivializes human distinctions, and since you are God’s people (in view of your being circumcised with a circumcision not done by human hands, and since you are holy (set apart, moral people), and since you are loved by God, dress like it.

In verse 12 we are right back to the clothing analogy, but here the new self is described in greater detail. This new self (the new garment) looks like the clothes of God. Let me explain: compassion (σπλάγχνα) refers to the “bowels, guts.” It was the seat of a persons emotions, so when one felt deeply for another he would have “compassion” for him, his guts would go out to them. This phrase is used throughout the Gospels to describe Jesus’s compassion for the lost sheep of Israel. In Matthew 9:36 we find the verb form of the term “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Compassion is one element of the new garment with which we are to be clothed. While it would be worth our while to go through the rest, time does not permit, so I would encourage you to go through and do a study on these words and you’ll find that each is a characteristic of Christ and God.

But for now I want us to think of the imagery of “clothing” oneself with such a garment. What would that look like?

Verse 13:

Verse 13 applies the five characteristics to a very real scenario: when one has been wronged. I like what Melick points out about verse 12 because it is helpful for verse 13. He writes: “Significantly, Paul focused on the individual who is to have patience, rather than the one who caused a problem. The place to begin in any group tension is with oneself rather than others” (299).

The notion of “bearing with” is, as the logos scholars point out, “to endure something unpleasant or difficult whether on one’s own behalf or on behalf of someone else.” In this context, it has the notion of enduring the failings of others, but not with a begrudging attitude or annoyance (like, “yeah I’m putting up with you”) but with a heart of grace and a willingness to forgive quickly. It’s interesting, the verb translated “forgive” has as its root word the noun typically translated “grace.” It has the sense of “forgive graciously.”

Now, Paul does not just exhort the Colossians to engage in this practice because it is the right thing or most expedient thing to do (it is certainly the first), but because “the Lord has forgiven you, thus you also must forgive others.” Two things about this: first, Anthony Ashes comments here are very much worth your while. “It is clear here and throughout that forgiving was more than just a command given to Christians. It was woven into the very fabric of God’s action in Christ. To refuse it would be to deny the very nature of Christianity” (Col 3:13). Christians are not grudge holders, in fact, as God took the initiative to forgive us, so we take the initiative in forgiving others. Second, remember the parable of the unforgiving servant.

Verse 14:

Above all the virtues, remains love. Now, it is worth noting that although other ancient documents point to one virtue that unites all the other enumerated in the document, none of them have love as this virtue. For instance, Keener points out that for some “wisdom was the dominant virtue” (577).

The image of the “bond” here is probably that of the clasp that will hold the garment in place, which is quite fitting, since Scripture speaks very clearly concerning “love” being the fulfillment of all of the commands. Christ, when asked what the greatest commandment was, pointed to the two love commands, and concluded “All the law and the prophets are summed up in these.” Paul states in Romans that every command is summed up in this law “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Rom 13:9). So, if we understood how to love in a godly manner, the Christian community would be brought to perfection (completeness), which is precisely why Paul must enumerate all of the other virtues and write as much as he does, in order to describe for us what love for God and what love for neighbor looks like.

Verses 15-17:

I just want to give a brief note on vv. 15-17, which is more of a reminder than anything else. You’ll notice in these three verses that the repeated idea is clearly “thankfulness.” Though the term used in each verse changes, all three are related an point to this notion of gratitude for what God has done through Christ. This idea is not unfamiliar to us. We’ve talked about it in Colossians already as one of those preventative measures against falling into the false teachings, but here is the reminder from Melick: “Paul frequently employed thankfulness as one of the litmus tests of Christian health…By contrast, one of the first indicators of departure from God is a lack of thanksgiving (e.g., Rom 1:21ff)” (248). Be thankful to God for what he has done for you in Christ.